About Giulia Alexandra

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Closer Look at K’ook, a Korean Upstart Now Open on Curry Row

Photo courtesy of Giulia Alexandra

Photo courtesy of Giulia Alexandra

K’ook, the casual Korean restaurant that replaced Jewel of India at 324 East 6th Street, opened this week and is now serving “crispy rice eggs” (boiled eggs wrapped in pork, rice, and kimchi and then deep fried). We stopped in for a visit this afternoon and they rolled out a feast of traditional and fusion dishes. That’s what “casual” means, explained chef Dantae (given name Yong Choi), who has worked in restaurants in Koreatown and on Long Island. (Owner Felicia Park was a partner in Han Joo on St. Marks Place.) Like another Korean newcomer, Yooeating, K’ook serves more than just the classics, as you can see from the menu and from the photos below.

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Gallery Invites Cats and Dogs to Paws and Reflect On This Pet-Themed Art Work

Photo courtesy of Mark Miller Gallery

“Egyptian Cat” by Nancy Grimes, photo courtesy of Mark Miller Gallery

Call it a pet project. This Sunday, the Mark Miller Gallery will launch a show featuring paintings of cats and dogs, and four-legged gallery goers will be treated to wine and cheese water bowls and dog treats.

Ever since he was a kid, Mark Miller has had a soft spot for animals. “People can’t afford to take care of their dogs and cats,” he told me. “We’ve had a lot of homeless animals in the Lower East Side and it’s caused me to get warm to the whole idea of doing something for dogs and cats.”

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That Feeling When You Leave Your 200-Acre Tree Farm For a Tiny Greenpoint Art Studio

Shara Hughes in front of "Tree Farm", Photo courtesy of Giulia Alexandra

Shara Hughes in front of “Tree Farm”, Photo courtesy of Giulia Alexandra

When Shara Hughes was born, her father bought her and her three brothers 200 acres of land each in rural Georgia. It was the early ’80s and land was going for 10 cents an acre. Her father saw his opportunity and planted a tree farm. Shara spent a lot of her childhood on that property, learning about land and taking care of the trees. She still goes there to enjoy the space and the nature and when she moved to New York from Atlanta in August last year, land – because there’s so little of it in the city – was the first thing she thought about.

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People Got Their Ashes Everywhere, Even On the Train

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Hannah and Nicole outside Grace Church on Broadway. Hannah hasn’t given much thought to what she’s giving up for Lent – Nicole just giggled.

The East Village is filled with ashes today as Christians prepare for 40 days of self-restraint, atonement and fasting. Even if you’re not the religious type, you probably still noticed people walking the streets with gray crosses on their foreheads and realized it’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. To celebrate, we actually went to church.
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This Latex Baroness Is Bracing For the Fifty Shades of Grey Effect

(Courtesy of The Baroness)

(Courtesy of The Baroness)

Fifty Shades of Grey is out in theaters today, amidst a flurry of criticism that its portrayal of BDSM closer resembles domestic violence than a consensual erotic relationship. In search of an authority on the matter, we ventured over to East 13th Street to spend an afternoon with The Baroness, a dominatrix and latex clothing designer who, rumor has it, once spit-roasted a man for three and a half hours.
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Vegans Sparred With Roadkill-Cuisine Advocates at Verbal Fight Night

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A food fight broke out at Brooklyn Brewery last night. Lots of them, actually.

Immersed in the thick scent of brewing beer, people in olive green jackets and cable-knit sweaters showed up to watch Leyla Acaroglu’s Verbal Fight Club and Drew Weigel’s Presentation Party Night NYC join forces. The result: a series of five-minute presentations on the “food fight ethics of what we choose to put in our bodies.”
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NY Sports Club Opens On Ave A Next Month, Crunch Bushwick Who-Knows-When

NYSCGood news for East Villagers who prefer Fitbits to chokers: the New York Sports Club that replaced Gracefully on Avenue A will officially open for workouts on March 2, according to company reps. Not that everyone is happy about it: as I took this picture a man walked by on his cell phone and I happened to overhear his conversation: “Are they building a gym? They’re building a gym! Oh, those fuckers!”

Meanwhile in Bushwick, at least one gym can’t come soon enough.
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From the Streets to the Suites: ’80s East Village Shows in Modern-Day Midtown

(Photos: Giulia Alexandra)

(Photos: Giulia Alexandra)

After talking to photographer Ken Schles last week about his exhibition opening at the Howard Greenberg Gallery I headed to the Midtown East last Thursday to check it out. Ken captured the East Village during the 1980s heroin haze and I wanted to see the glittering carnage up close. What I found was something else entirely.
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